The Chicago Board of Trade announced today it will close the...

The Chicago Board of Trade announced today it will close the 133-year-old MidAmerica Exchange, which it acquired in 1986, later this year. CBOT officials said the MidAmerica’s flagging trading volume and declining profitability prompted the move. The MidAmerica’s eight most actively traded products — the U.S. Treasury bond, 10-year Treasury note, eurodollar, wheat, corn, soybean, New York gold and New York silver futures contracts — will continue to trade via the Mid-America’s open outcry markets through their cycle of contract month listings, CBOT officials said. When the last of those expire, the products will be converted to CBOT mini-contracts that will trade on the CBOT’s electronic trading platform.